My life as a Missionary in the Santiago East, Chile Mission

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June 15, 2015 (Week 54)

Last photo with President Wright, after a class taught in our chapel. Sounds like our new president will be pretty much the opposite of President Wright, who was very serious and to-the-book. Apparently, our new president studied dramatic arts. His name is Marty Morgan, from Wyoming.

Elder Lopez, Elder See and I during changes. 3 generations of Elders. Elder Lopez goes home to Mexico today or tomorrow. It was good seeing them, but I have to say, I come from a long line of very serious missionaries.

Our Zone at the end of last change after a Zone Class. We are in La Reina, in front of the chapel Lynch Norte.

Send Trevor my congratulations. (Trevor Oler is a friend in our ward who just returned home from his mission).

The tradition is to burn pants. We’ll see about that. If I have a pair of pants that are good and trashed by then, then I might burn it. I do not think I will do the last one at 2 years, which is a suit. Seems like a waste of a perfectly good suit. Much better to give it to an elder that actually needs it, or else take it home with me.

Looks like I’m going to be staying another change here is Tobalaba 1 with Elder Granda. This is our 5th change together, which will give us just under 7 months together. He will go home at the end of this change, which is on the 26th of July. It’s a long time to be with one companion, but it’s fine. I’m not upset. Granted, I would love to train, but I am settled. It just means that I need to learn to be more humble and accept easier the will of God, especially when it comes to missionary work.

We had a cool service project that we did on Saturday with Juanita. In that house, there are two Juanitas: a mother and a daughter. Juanita mom is 80 something years old, really sick, has a broken arm, and can’t walk well. She didn’t always have he broken arm. That came from a recent fall she took. Before, she would go to the back of their house and walk around for exercise, but because of her arm, she can’t go down the stairs to get to the back, making her not able to get her exercise, which is vital to her health. The have a tiny yard in the front, but it was a muddy mess, making her unable to use it either. We, with their visiting teacher, went to their house early Saturday and gave them a lawn. It was pretty fun. I like that kind of work. Although it was pretty back-breaking. We had to break up the ground, which was pretty hard because it hasn’t rained here for 4 months, but other than that it went by pretty fast. And it turned out really well. They have a little garden in the front, and it literally changed the look of said garden from looking like an unfinished tangle of weeds to a beautiful, cozy little home. I’ll admit, I was pretty proud of it, and Antonio, the recent convert from Christmas (they are all converts with no more than 3 years under their belts, but Antonio is the most recent and the one that we worry the most about) seemed pretty pleased with it.

Not too much more to tell you. I love you all. I pray for you all the time.